Journal - International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine

Medical Ethics in Medieval Islam*
Plinio PRIORESCHI*
* MD, PhD, Department of Pharmacology, Section of History of Medicine, School of Medicine, Creighton University, Omaba,
Nebraska 68178, USA
e-mail: plinio@creighton.edu
As we have seen elsewhere (1), society confers on
the physician special trust and privileges (e.g.,
knowledge of confidential information, examination
of the most intimate parts of the body), but it requires
in return that he adhere to principles of behavior
expressed in codes which are common to many cultures.
In the Western World, such a code was (and, to
a certain extent, still is) (2) the Hippocratic Oath.
The Islamic world was no exception and treatises
of medical ethics were common. (2) The Islamic
physician also recognized the validity of the
Hippocratic Oath, which was translated and adapted
to the Islamic religion (in the same way it was modified
in the West to reconcile it with Christianity (3)).
The Arabic version of Usaybia reads:
I swear by God, Master of life and death, giver of
health and creator of healing and every cure, and I
swear by Asclepius, and I swear by all God’s saints,
male and female, and I call on all of them as witnesses
that I will fulfil this oath and this condition.
I believe that he who instructs me in this sciences
takes the place of my fathers. I will let him share in
my livelihood and, should he need money, I will give
it to him and let him participate in my income. I will
consider the generation of his descendants as equal to
my brothers and I will instruct them in this science,
should they need to learn it, without payment and
without condition. I will allow my children and my
teacher’s children and the pupils who have accepted
Summary
The author discusses medical deontology in medieval Islam. After reviewing the work of al-Ruhawi and other Islamic ethicists,
he notes that in medical ethics, as in medicine and other sciences, Islamic civilization, at the time, reached levels unsurpassed anywhere.
Key Words; Islamic Civilization, Ethicists, Medieval Islam.
this condition and are sworn to the medical nomos (1)
to participate together in exhortations and learning
and all that has to do with the science, but for nobody
else will I do so.
During the entire treatment, I will strive, as far as it
is possible for me, to benefit patients. Things that may
harm them and do them wrong I will avoid to the best
of my judgment. I will not give a lethal medicine if
asked for it nor give such counsel. Similarly, I do not
believe that I may give women an injection [i.e., give
a drug or perform a procedure] to induce abortion. In
my treatment and my science I will keep myself pure
and clean. Also, I will not make an incision for someone
who has a stone in his bladder, but will leave it to
those who perform this operation professionally.
All the houses that I enter, I will enter for the benefit
of patients, being in a condition far removed from
injustice, wickedness and voluntary and deliberate
corruption in general as well as in respect of sexual
intercourse with women and men whether free or
slaves. Things concerning people’s activity which I
observe or hear during the treatment of patients and
at other times and which ought not to be discussed
outside I will avoid, since I believe that one should
not talk about such matters.
He who keeps this oath and does not corrupt it in
any respect will be privileged to perfect his treatment
and his science most excellently and beautifully and
will be constantly praised by all men in future. The
44 JISHIM 2004, 3